A variety of medical procedures rely upon the introduction of medical instruments into a patient's vasculature so that the medical instruments may be advanced to a body location requiring diagnosis or treatment. For example, a guide catheter may be advanced through the patient's vasculature to a desired treatment site and one or more medical instruments may be advanced through the guide catheter.
It will be appreciated that depending on the nature of the patient's vasculature, the location of the treatment site, and other parameters, the desired performance characteristics of the catheter may change. Moreover, in many cases, the desired performance characteristics may conflict, such as a desire for a catheter that is both flexible yet sufficiently strong. Consequently, portions of a catheter may be made from particular materials that lend desired characteristics to an appropriate portion of the catheter.
In some cases, the particular materials used may cause difficulties in manufacture of the catheter. For example, some combinations of materials are difficult to adhesively secure together, or to weld together. There exists a need, therefore, for improved methods of manufacturing medical devices such as catheters.